Memorial Day
Should Not Be Forgotten
Sometimes, in this fast-moving society, we don't
take enough time for solemnity.
That is the case with Memorial Day, a holi-
day that for some is nothing more than an ex-
tended weekend, a time to go to the beach or
an opportunity to buy at lower prices.
Memorial Day, though, is a time when Amer-
icans, including American Jews, need to re-
member that time and time again, throughout
history, individuals died so that this country
could be free. Rabbis have stated from the pul-
pit that never in history have we been so free
to be Jews as in modern America.
We feel a certain amount of indebtedness
must be paid to our fallen servicemen and
women. In Israel during Yom Hazikaron, sirens
—long, scary air-raid signals — bring the busy
traffic in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to a halt. Mil-
itary cemeteries are crowded with loved ones.
No matter where you are, it is difficult to es-
cape the commemorations.
In Michigan, we need this holiday — and
those it recalls — to be commemorated more
than by a backup north along 1-75. Instead, our
children need to be taught about military he-
roes, particularly Jewish ones. We don't have
to go far to find them.
Lt. Raymond Zussman of Detroit was award-
ed the Congressional Medal of Honor when he
killed 18 Nazi soldiers and captured 92, by him-
self. He was killed only days later. During the
American Civil War, seven Jews won the Con-
gressional Medal, including Leopold Karpeles,
Ben Levy, Abraham Cohn, David Obranski,
Henry Heller, Abraham Grunwalt and Isaac
Gans.
During World War I, a quarter of a million
Jews fought in the service of the United States,
almost 5 percent of the total American Jewish
population. The number to fight in World War
II was over half a million. There were 150,000
Jews in Korea and 30,000 in Vietnam.
It's a holiday that should not be forgotten,
but instead, should be remembered. Take a mo-
ment. It's part of our American Jewish her-
itage, and it's important.
Remember Our Kids
Through The Campaign
Last year, when Hillel Day School teachers
marched along the picket line, the feeling among
Jews was that this sort of thing should never have
happened.
This year, with the Allied Jewish Campaign
winding down toward its June 17 Days of Decision
goal of $27.5 million, the money must be funneled
into education as a priority.
Education as a priority includes day-school
funding, campus Hillels and other organizations.
Educational organizations have to keep wonder-
ing how long they can continue to provide full ser-
vices when the money is less. There are too many
students, too many families at risk who can ill-af-
ford possible cutbacks.
Even with a goal that would mean a more bal-
anced emphasis on allocations among populations
at risk and educational services, we still remem-
ber the picket signs and the questions from teach-
ers wondering where the support was.
We encourage the community to respond to Days
of Decision with the understanding that Federa-
tion will help sustain these educationally related
agencies. Communal leaders always debate the
reasons behind assimilation and non-affiliation.
The answer to the debate is education, reaching
children and families and paying good teachers to
help them learn.
The community needs to respond to this need.
If not, it cannot ask what happened. It's not a ques-
tion for 10 or 20 years from now. The questions of
what's happening to our community are appro-
priately being asked now.
Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate
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Concerned About
College-Aged
We want to highly commend
your editorial of May 7 re-
garding the problems we have
in our colleges with our youth
and how terribly important it
is to do something about it.
There is constant hand-
wringing going on in our com-
munity about the desperate
situation we are facing with
our youth. Intermarriage has
reached terribly high propor-
tions. Over 50 percent of our
young people are marrying
non-Jews.
We believe the colleges are
a very important place where
we could reach our youth and
perhaps teach them something
about their heritage and Jew-
ish traditions. Tragically, many
of the parents have failed to
give them much of a Jewish ed-
ucation and now we are pay-
ing the price.
Much work is needed in the
colleges, and the Federation
and other organizations should
make this one of their highest
priorities.
The B'nai B'rith Hillel orga-
nization is doing a good job, but
is drastically underfunded.
Golda Meier once said that we
lost more Jews to assimilation
than to pogroms.
If we do not do something to
reverse the trend, we believe
that Jewish survival (in the
next 40 to 50 years) in the
United States will be in great
danger.
David Kahan
Jeffrey J. Kahan
Sam Seltzer
Christian And
Jewish Dialogue
E, Dry Bones
F-
Letters
The Rev. James Lyons' "Com-
munity Views" article of April
23 titled "Is Dialogue Possible
for Jews and Christians?" was
most challenging and provoca-
tive. Richard Braun respond-
ed last week endorsing the
Rev. Lyons' effort, "impressed
by his sincere desire to improve
relations between Christians
and Jews." However, how
chutzpandik for him "to point
out a number of things which
even the good Rev. Lyons has
failed to resolve."
Mr. Braun makes the Rev.
Lyons' point that we need to di-
alogue, and we — both com-
munities — need to learn
about each other. Much has
been done, especially in the last
30 years, inside the Christian
communities to teach "about"
Judaism. Most Christians now
know that Jesus was born,
lived, and died a Jew. Most
Christians do not hold the
Jews of today responsible for
killing Jesus. Many, if not
most, Christians today recog-
nize that Judaism is a modern
religion standing side by side
with Christianity — with re-
spect.
Of course, in both commu-
nities there are diehards who
want to continue medieval
teachings about each other.
But, mainly we live — at least
in the United States — in an
enlightened society. Christians
have learned to respect Jews
for their contributions to our
society — we Jews have to stop
labeling all Christians as anti-
Semites and Nazis.
God knows we have enough
historical reasons to be cau-
tious, but when we meet Chris-
tians of good will — and there
are millions of them — we
should reach out a hand of
friendship. Very few Christian
agendas include assimilation.
(This is happening with no ef-
fort on their part.)
We have to reinforce our —
and our children's — commit-
ment to Judaism by learning
more about our own religion
and then be willing to meet
with Christians so we can dis-
pel the (innate) fear that is cer-
tainly unjustified today.
There is important work to
be done here. The Rev. Lyons
can't do it all. The Ecumenical
Institute can't do it all. More
and more we now see syna-
gogues and temples with in-
terfaith and intercultural
programs. All the "defense" or-
ganizations (ADL, AJCongress,
etc.) have ecumenical depart-
ments. Much is being pub-
lished by major Jewish
institutions promoting this
learning from and about each
other.
For centuries it was a one-
way street. Christians have
LETTERS page 6